Wildlife photographer photographer David Yarrow at the second annual Tusk USA Wildlife Gala at Gustavino's in New York City.

Wildlife photographer photographer David Yarrow at the second annual Tusk USA Wildlife Gala at Gustavino's in New York City.

Photo: Gary Gershoff / Getty Images

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Photographer who goes eye-to-eye with nature to visit Greenwich

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GREENWICH — The kind of photographs that David Yarrow is bringing to Greenwich this week are eye-catching in the extreme.

Known as Europe’s best-selling wildlife photographer, whose camera has captured lions and rhinos in vivid detail, his frame is always full and packed with kinetic energy.

Like his photographs — “the size of pool tables,” Yarrow noted — the man behind the lens is something of a larger-than-life figure, as visitors to a Greenwich gallery where he will be signing copies of his latest book, “Wild Encounters,” might discover.

A former financier who re-invented himself as a wildlife and adventure photographer, Yarrow gets close to the action. The famed photojounalist Robert Capa once observed, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,” and those are words that Yarrow has come to embody.

One photo of a brown bear in Alaska, Yarrow recalled from a gallery in Belgium during a recent phone interview, was especially memorable.

“With a bear nine times your weight, and you’re lying on the grass, and the bear is standing over you, it’s a bit worrying,” he said.

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Isabella Garrucho Fine Arts, 40 West Putnam Ave.

VIP reception, invitation only, Tuesday, 6 to 9 p.m.

Public opening, Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m., book signing

exhibit runs through Jan. 13

Yarrow’s show at the Isabella Garrucho Fine Art gallery, including book signings and a reception, will fall amid national network news appearances and an interview on Good Morning America next week.

Alex Trimper, the managing director at the Greenwich art gallery, said Yarrow’s visit was keenly anticipated, as it has been in other venues where long lines have stretched out the door.

“It’s an acknowledgment that there’s an art scene of note here. For someone of his stature, his notoriety, to take the time to do two days here, it says something. There’s an interest in art here, and it’s a tip of the hat to Fairfield County and specifically Greenwich,” Trimper said.

The story behind the pictures is a compelling one, too, Trimper said.

“He comes from a prominent background, ran a successful investment firm out of London. Even with that success, the way he talks about himself — he’s a servant to the subject he photographs — he’s humble and down-to-earth. And he’s a ridiculously talented photographer. He’s also using his success to impact ecological issues,” the gallery co-owner said.

Yarrow, a native of Glasgow now based in London, does extensive research on the animals he’s filming, as well as putting in plenty of field research when he’s on-scene.

“With different animals, you have to use different techniques, but the cornerstone of it all is research," he said.

Then he’s ready to shoot, getting close to the subject for an “immersive” experience. He never uses a telephoto lens.

“I felt wildlife photography had become very boring, because people were using the telephoto lens, taking pictures of animals from a long way away, and it’s not the same quality,” he said. “I started out as a sports photographer and used wide angle lens quite a bit. It allows for much more clarity of features and contexuality, as well. A telephoto lens, because it’s reducing distance, it compresses features.”

Yarrow often uses a camera he can control remotely to get close shots of big cats, while he’s perched in a nearby cage. The felines like the scent of after-shave, so he douses it on the camera — which can create its own set of problems.

“Lions tend to want to eat the camera. We have lost a few cameras, eaten by lions,” he noted. Dung was used to coat another camera for a rhino shot in Kenya.

Other times, Yarrow gets very, very close himself. But he said it’s the encounters with the human population that often carries the biggest risks.

“My confrontations with people are always more dangerous. People do three things animals don’t - (animals) don’t drink alcohol, smoke marijuana, and they can’t buy guns. Those three things make some parts of Africa far more dangerous than confrontations with gorillas or lions,” he said.

A Nikon camera is his tool for the job.

“I need to work with really robust equipment in the hot, cold, jungle. And the optical quality is magnificent,” he said.

That said, “a camera is just a piece of metal - it’s about your soul and your eye.”

Beside the right equipment, having a sense of humor is a key component of doing the work, the Scotsman noted, as well as the ability to make friends.

“One thing I put a lot of emphasis in, especially in tribal communities, you need to win over the tribe, you need to know what it takes, and quite often it’s not money. It can be cow medicine -- or even pictures of our cows from home,” he said.

His recent series of photographs have yielded $400,000 for African conservation projects, and he’s working with Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his Tusk Trust Charity to save endangered species in Africa.

“Prince William, he’s miles away from your traditional British royal who might have been a bit detached from reality. He’s a normal guy who wants to make sure his grandchildren can see what we’ve seen in the wild,” Yarrow said.

The financier-turned-photographer said he was looking forward to revisiting Greenwich and seeing some friends he made in his business career.

“I’ve got some good mates in Greenwich,” he said. “It’s a beautiful part of the world.”

His profession as a wildlife photographer came about gradually. After enjoying some early success as a sports photographer, he followed his father’s advice and went into banking. Later in life, he was drawn back to a life off the beaten track, following a divorce.

“It’s a familiar tale, particularly somewhere like Connecticut. On the outside, people seem to have all the trappings, but inwardly they’re not very happy,” he said. “One of my antidotes for things at home not going well was to find some sort of peace in going to very remote places with my camera, escaping. I started photographing more and more.”

He made a famous image in South Sudan in 2010, a sweeping epic of a photo depicting cattle herders and their cows in fluid motion called “Mankind” and it cemented his reputation as a nature photographer extraordinaire. His works now sell between $10,000 and $40,000.

Yarrow, 50, is still an ambitious man — and he’s also quite a salesman, as his numerous gallery receptions and media promotions for “Wild Encounters” attest.

“I want this book to be the best-selling wildlife book ever. I know that’s a big ambition, but I think we’re going to get there,” he said.

Yarrow certainly works on a large canvas, a reflection of his own vision and personal journey. He likes to paraphrase an aphorism by the landscape photographer, Ansel Adams.

“You don’t take a picture with just a camera. You bring to the art of photography the pictures of others you’ve seen, the poems you’ve read, the music you’ve listened to, the loves you’ve lost. It’s an outward manifestation of your inner journey,” Yarrow said. “The lens looks both ways.”